Hatashijou
by Marinera K
Summary: Three alchemists must reunite to find the cause of a series of missing alchemists and soldiers in southern Amestris, making both friends and enemies, and facing their own demons, along the way. Plenty of OCs, takes place in the FMA manga-verse.
1. Prologue

**Hatashijou: Prologue**  
Disclaimer: I don't own Amestris or Fullmetal Alchemist! They belong to Arakawa-san.  
A/N: This story be a little experiment... and we shall see where it goes. XD

* * *

Dawn broke over the eastern horizon, chasing away the shadows and gloom of the past night. The sun, shimmering in a reddish gold hue far beyond of the edge of the dense forest, illuminated the path before the faded black automobile, giving its driver a sure and steady trail to follow into the further green abyss of the trees. Too long and too dark had been the night. On multiple occasions, the driver had nearly been certain he'd lost his way. But now, with the deception of darkness slowly but surely departing until the next night, both driver and passenger could be certain of their course.

Reilly Caidrew glanced down at the address and directions given to her by her superior officer three days ago. It couldn't be too far, now.

The directions had been simple: travel two days' worth north of Northern City, until she came across an old forest. From there, she would follow the winding path until it finally led to her to her destination. It couldn't be _that_ hard, could it? And yet, who had any idea that a path leading to a civilian's house could be so bloody deceptive. It probably had once been a hunter's trail, at least originally, but now the buried path was little more than a gap between the dense walls of towering pines and spruces – with emphasis on the _buried_ aspect of it.

Reilly sighed, looking out the window of the automobile. This had been one heck of a mission, no doubt about that. Oh yes, at first it had seemed exciting, taking a road trip to the far reaches of the North to meet an old friend on behalf of her country, but after many long days and nights of travel, it was more than slightly beginning to wear on her. Why, just yesterday, she had accidentally dozed off during her night watch behind the wheel; it was sheer luck that she hadn't permanently wrapped herself and her chauffeur around a thick trunk! But, long journey or not, at least her driver (and passenger, on the rare occasions that he relinquished control of the wheel) Warrant Officer Aubrey had been a pleasant enough companion. He never once complained about the lack of sleep – and no lack of mishaps – that he endured, though Reilly did suspect that it had something to do with the generous additional paychecks he would receive for this.

Reilly glanced down once more at the packet she held clutched in her hands.

_Jack Riley._

Those were the only two words inscribed on the outside of the thick envelope. Above it, in the upper left corner, was the President's seal.

Jack… her friend of old, the aspiring alchemist she'd met at the Fair those years past, the one who she'd always been teased with because of their lack of height. She could still hear the ringing taunts of the children outside of Central, pulling mocking grins at the two shorter kids. _Hey, who's smaller - Riley or Reilly? I don't know, it's hard to tell, I can barely see them beneath those blades of grass there! … Hey, I wonder if the name Riley is jinxed? Anyone who's named it turns out a chibi! Poor, poor chibi-chan…_

Reilly grimaced. At least she'd been better at controlling her temper; it'd taken quite a bit of distracting to keep Jack from pounding those kids down to the depths of the earth. But now, that had been almost ten years ago… and without any real means of communicating with her friend, Jack probably would've forgotten all about her. At the very least, Reilly knew all too well how much could change in that amount of time. She sighed, hoping that at least some kind of friendly reunion could come out of this business transaction.

Reilly shoved the envelope back into her bag and leaned back in the seat, staring out the window of the automobile once more. Well, whatever Jack was up to now, the military was apparently quite interested. What exactly Jack could do that would warrant a letter from the President, Reilly had no clue, though she had considered using alchemy to temporarily change the envelope to a transparent substance. Her lips twitched against a smile. Yes, she had gotten quite bored over the course of the trip, and that transparent material idea in addition to many other insane schemes had more than once tried to root themselves in her will, as if daring her to try them just to see if she could pull it off. For example, she'd considered changing the styles of Aubrey's hair to something more exotic while he was sleeping in the backseat, but she hadn't wanted to take her eyes off the road for that long. Another source of entertainment could have been to change the color of the car to one that would perfectly match the green light streaming down from above, so that the automobile would appear invisible along the road. Heh, _that _sure would've given Jack some scare, to hear an automobile coming but not be able to see it! However, entertaining as the thought may have been, Reilly had a bit more self-control than _that_.

Besides, in a few hours, it wouldn't matter anymore. She would deliver the message, say hello to Jack, and be done with this long, boring, seemingly worthless assignment. Whatever she had done to earn this penance would be forgotten, and it would be back to her normal life with the military, back to long days and longer nights, back to her constant research that would, somehow, supposedly make a difference in the world.

_Just a few more hours_… that relatively short amount of time, compared to the rest of Caidrew's existence on this earth, had never seemed to stretch out so long.


	2. Ch 1: Starting Up

**Hatashijou**  
**PART ONE: Of Dreams and Memoirs  
****chapter one: Starting Up**

**A/Ns & Disclaimers at the bottom.**

* * *

_From the peak of Cyprus Mountain, the girl stared out over the horizon, watching the setting sun over the Northern forests. Another figure, short, stocky, and cloaked in a large trench coat, strode forward and came to a stop beside her. The girl turned to her friend._

"_It's not too far now – I can see the trees on the horizon."_

_A quiet laugh was heard. "Yes, thank you, Alice. Though I have been able to see that for the past few hours." The figure turned to wink at Alice. "Better vision than you."_

_Alice rolled her eyes, blowing a hastily chopped lock of hair out of her face as she put her arm up against her friend's shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Just let me feel important for two seconds, all right?"_

_Quiet laughter again._

_Alice sighed, looking back to the dense sea of trees that would be their new home. "So, any idea what we do now?"_

_Her friend paused a beat. "We've sent out the message to the media and several major cities. All we can do now is wait."_

"_Wait – and watch."_

"_Aye, that too."_

_Alice closed her eyes, shaking her head as if to ward away thoughts and memories she'd rather not have to face just yet. She sat down on the mountain's edge, letting her feet dangle beneath her. "Jack?" she whispered._

_Her cloaked friend squatted next to her. "Yeah?"_

_Alice looked over the horizon, face kept intentionally blank. "… do you think we made the right choice?"_

"_You couldn't stand it there. You were right, we had to leave."_

"_I don't mean that. I mean… running away and all."_

_Jack cocked a wary brow. "You think we're _running_ from them?"_

_"No…" Alice sighed. "I guess not. I just wish… I could've made it work out, somehow. Maybe tried other jobs, near the Cities. Maybe…" she flinched, instinctively drawing back from a painful memory. "Maybe we could've…"_

_"Maybe we could've what? Killed another two thousand? I don't think so." With an encouraging grin, Jack slung an arm over her shoulder. "Hey, so you were always too trusting. I knew it'd come back to bite us someday, and now that's it's happened, it's not too bad, is it? We're going to make a difference, in our own way. That's why we're going there-" a gloved hand pointed out towards the horizon, towards the old forest that would be their home. "-not to run away, not to hide, but to make a new name for ourselves."_

"_A new name, eh?" Alice pulled a sad smile. "Sounds like a good idea, all things considered."_

"_Hey, just because _they_ are corrupt doesn't mean that we can't use our talents other ways. We'll fight for what we believe in, follow our own paths."_

"_Aye… it's what we've always been best at, ain't it?"_

Jack poked Alice with mock severity. "No bad grammar from you, missie. And speaking of names, have you come up with said callsign yet, imouto-san? Our clients will want to call us something, besides 'Hey, you! Yeah, you over there! In the black coat!' "

_Alice swatted the finger away with a laugh. The distraction had worked. "As a matter of fact, I did. I was thinking something along the lines of…" She paused dramatically. "Hatashijou."_

"_Hatashijou?" Jack laughed. "Proverbially throwing the gauntlet, are we now? Nice job, imouto-san. I love it."_

"_Thought you might."_

_Sitting on a strange, lonely mountain in the middle of the Northern wilderness, in the sanguine light of the falling sun, Alice and Jack Riley grinned at each other, a team once more._

* * *

It was just a few hours to noon when the occupants of the black automobile saw their first sign of humanity in days. Just beyond a turn in the road, no different from all the other countless turns before it, was a small, old, very much dilapidated wooden shack that seemed to be standing in one piece only because of some spell on the place.

Warrant Officer Aubrey slowed the automobile to a stop, peering out his window with narrowed eyebrows. "That's _it?_"

Reilly cocked an eyebrow. The shack did have a certain flair to it, as if rebelling against the rest of the world by refusing to fall. Revolting as it looked, maybe it did harbor her friend of old. "I guess so."

"Huh. Have to say, I was expecting something a little more…"

"Civilized?"

Aubrey nodded. "Yeah."

Reilly grinned. "Well, then, you didn't research your mission very thoroughly, did you? This little joint has Jack's name all over it. Come on, let's check it out."

Aubrey sighed and shifted the automobile into park. He didn't need to pull over to the side of the road, since the trail had barely let the small, compact frame of his car through the dense underbrush. Besides, it wasn't like any other cars would be coming through this forest any time soon – there was a reason this forest was considered, for the most part, uninhabited.

Reilly popped out of the car, slamming the door behind her as she sprinted towards the run-down shack. "Yo! Jack! It's me, Reilly, from the Fair, remember?"

Aubrey winced as he delicately stepped out of the automobile, softly closing the driver's door shut behind him. "Caidrew, _please_…"

Reilly paid no attention as she knocked gently on the frail door of the shack. "Hey, I know it's been a while, but is anyone there? I'm actually here on business, but…" The wood where she knocked fell away, splattering down to earth, leaving the door even more crumbled than it was before. "Oops. Sorry, mate."

Aubrey strode forward, holding his head in his hand. "Caidrew, I really don't think this is the place. I mean, come on, you just broke the door by simply _touching_ it!"

Reilly turned around and scowled. "I'll fix it again."

Aubrey rolled his eyes and moved to grab her arm. "Yes, thank you, Miss Alchemist. Now really, I think we should be moving on before—"

"Before what?" Reilly didn't appear to move, but suddenly she was pulled back from the Warrant Officer, crouched in a defensive stance. Aubrey blinked, then reminded himself who this was he was talking to – she wouldn't be so easily swayed as his other comrades back at the military station. It wasn't for nothing that she'd earned herself the nickname of _Stubbornshot_, a variant of Reilly's military name, the Suddenshot Alchemist.

Aubrey closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, then with a sigh, he tried again. "Caidrew, this shack is _uninhabitable. _It's falling apart!"

Reilly held up one finger resolutely. "Ah, but those two things are neither mutually inclusive nor exclusive."

Aubrey took a step closer. "I know we've been on the road for a while, but you can't just jump on every manmade object along the road and think that your friend made it."

"I'm _not!_ But even if I was, then at least we'd know we didn't miss anything."

"You're going to make this mission drag on for days yet-"

"That's 'cause I want to do it right!"

"I know that you technically outrank me, Caidrew, but I really must insist-"

"Just let me look through the place, okay? It won't take too long and then we can move on."

So suddenly that neither of the military agents realized it until several moments later, two harsh, quiet _click_s were heard.

"What the hell-" Aubrey started to draw for his gun, but with one swift motion that showed the reason for her military name, Reilly knocked his hand aside. He scowled at her, but she just shook her head solemnly.

"Hey, Jack," Reilly said in an even, conversational tone. She knew that her friend was somewhere nearby, and that she would easily be heard. "I know it's been a while, but can I just talk to you? It's actually quite important. I'm here on business."

A few moments of silence passed. Then, so suddenly that one might miss the motion if they turned their glance but for a moment, a small, cloaked figure dropped between Reilly and Aubrey, hardly making a noise upon landing. There was a cocked handgun in each gloved hand, with the left aiming its barrel directly at Aubrey's forehead. There was a hood covering the face of the figure, but Reilly would have recognized that style of landing anywhere. This was Jack Riley, her old friend, still sneaking up on people and dropping out of trees just like at the Alchemy Fairs of years past.

"Hey, Reilly. Long time no see." The voice was a tenor – it was impossible to guess age, let alone any other factor, from the sound of it.

"Yeah," Reilly grinned, crossing her hands over her chest, "that might be an understatement. But it's good to see you again, oh thee of the black trench coat."

A small snicker was heard. "Hey, some things just don't go out of style, you know? Just like your smiling face. Good thing for your sake that I'd recognize it anywhere." Jack's head cocked towards the Warrant Officer. "So, Reilly, how well do you know this punk?"

"Oh, fairly well. I had an interesting trip with him, getting way up here, and I've learned that he's smart enough not to rat on you or anything." Reilly glared at the Warrant Officer. "_Right?_"

Aubrey nodded. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"See?" Reilly pulled a cocky grin. "Nothing to worry about, mate."

Jack slowly lowered the gun, then holstered both pistols in one deft movement. "That's good. So what brings you two 'way up here' to the North, anyway?"

Reilly shrugged. "Can't I take some time off work and travel several thousand miles just to drop by my old friend's hou–errr, shack?"

Jack suspiciously eyed the girl. "Right…"

"By the way," Reilly motioned towards the dilapidated structure. "_is _that a house or a shack, anyway? My traveling buddy here thinks that it's uninhabitable-"

"-so I heard-" Jack grumbled.

"-but if anyone could pull it off, I knew you could. Right, Jack?"

Her friend shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

Reilly nodded, undaunted by Jack's lack of a true response. "So, what'll it be, then? Are you going to invite me in?"

Jack smirked. "If I didn't know better, I'd call you a vampire. Invite you in? Sure, sure, just don't freak out when you see a spider or two. They're good for killing bugs, you know."

Reilly glared at Jack, but her rebellious eyes held the slightest traces of fear in them. The Suddenshot Alchemist laughed uneasily. "You have… _spiders?_"

Jack slapped her on the back. "Oh, you'll live. Besides, this is the North, what'd you expect? Little picnic tables?" Reilly scowled, but withheld her commentaries.

Jack reached over and jerked the old, rotting door open – it was probably a miracle the thing had stayed on its hinges. Inside the door, it was impossible to see any further than a few feet; the other blackness of the dark seemed almost overwhelmingly unnatural in the broad daylight.

"Come on – and don't let in too much light, mind you!"

Reilly nodded curtly to Jack, then without hesitation strode into the darkness; it was obvious that one of the travelers trusted the word of a living shadow. The Warrant Officer, however, apparently had his reservations, though he chose not to voice them. Instead, he glanced back towards his car, then peered into the shack cautiously, as if evaluating his options. Finally, though, with an unseen glare from Jack, he entered the derelict structure.

As soon as Aubrey entered the shack, Jack jumped in and slammed the door shut behind them. The walls and ceiling shuddered with the blow, and then, the darkness was overwhelmingly complete. Somehow, the cracks in the walls and ceiling and door that had showed from the outside didn't let the smallest tiny flicker of light in, once again arousing the Warrant Officer's suspicions that some spell was on the place. Aubrey swallowed an uneasy gulp; he didn't like this rig one bit, nor did he trust its occupant. Any place as alienated from _light_ – let alone society – as this surely couldn't be used for anything _decent_… could it?

The Warrant Officer's thoughts were interrupted as his ears picked up the slightest sounds of shuffling, as if someone was searching for something on the floor A grunt was heard – apparently Jack's, since Reilly's voice wasn't nearly so deep – followed by a soft clunk.

"Hey, Reilly," Jack's voice rang out, "and you, um, Mr. Person, whatever your name is-"

"I'm Warrant Officer Aubrey," the soldier offered.

Suddenly, there was silence. Complete and utter silence. Aubrey froze, wondering what in the world this strange character was thinking – or worse, about to _do_ – now.

A few moments later, Jack's voice was heard again, but this time as a harsh whisper. "Reilly, you brought a freakin' _soldier_ here? What were you thinking?!"

"He's not going to rat you out!" Reilly protested, a defensive edge rising to her voice. "And besides, it wouldn't matter. I'm here on _business_, remember? Who do you think would be hiring you at a time like this, with trouble in both the North and East?"

"You're a representative from the _military?_" Jack snorted. "Huh, I should've known, with that silver chain on your belt and all, but I was hoping that maybe your job wouldn't have anything to do with it."

Though she couldn't see her friend in the oppressive darkness, Reilly instinctively clutched her silver pocket watch. She knew it – she knew this wouldn't work out! It'd been too long, too many years apart, things had obviously changed, and now, just because she was a State Alchemist… Reilly shook her head. She had to try; she had to convince her friend to just _listen_. "Just hear out the message, Jack, please? Then we'll just go and leave you alone. You don't have to do anything, just listen to us and then I'll just head back to Central and it'll be fine, all right?"

Jack sighed reluctantly. "You don't have to do that, mate. You're my friend; of course I'll listen to you. Now come on, let's go."

Reilly frowned. "Where?"

A quiet chuckle was heard. "Aww, c'mon, you didn't honestly think I lived in a crappy little cabin the size of an outhouse, did you?" With that, there was a sudden click, and a small light flickered to life. Jack was crouched next to an opened hatch, with a gloved hand loosely clutching the flashlight. The light was angled to reveal some kind of staircase beneath the ground. With an eerie smirk, partially illuminated by the flashlight's radiance, Jack nodded towards the hidden entry. "C'mon, mates – we don't got all day!"

* * *

The little troupe of three had been walking down the dark, and in Aubrey's opinion, _creepy_ tunnel for quite some time – how long, none of them save Jack could guess – when abruptly Jack flicked off the flashlight, entombing them all once again in complete and utter darkness.

"We're here," Jack cheerfully reported. Reilly could hear her friend tuck the flashlight into a trench coat.

"Finally," the Suddenshot Alchemist grumbled, not bothering to hide her displeasure of the dank and musty hole beneath the ground. "The sooner we get out of this place, the better." Reilly shuddered.

"What? You afraid of the _spiders_, or something?"

"Shut _up_, Jack! I swear, if you mention spiders one more time—"

"Yeah, yeah, that's great, Reilly. Now just a moment, if you will."

"What are you two nutjobs talking about?!" Aubrey blinked repeatedly in a pathetic attempt to force his eyes to adjust to the darkness. The Warrant Officer hadn't seen anything significant in the tunnel just prior to the end of the flashlight's reign as electric pathfinder, and he found it highly unlikely that he had missed anything, any indicator, had there been any in the first place. But no, just rock and earth and wooden beams, same as every other square inch of the tunnel he had seen, were all he could remember since he went beneath the ground. "There's _nothing_ down here," the Warrant Officer ranted, "No spiders, no secret hidden bases, no additional strange people that dress in all black… it's just a big, dark hole in the ground!"

They could hear Jack shrug out of the trench coat and drop it on the tunnel floor, though of course neither Reilly nor Aubrey could see the action. When Jack spoke again, the voice was barely above a whisper, but the message came louder than anything that'd been said all day.

"Darkness reveals nothing, Warrant Officer Aubrey," Jack murmured, "but that's why it makes the best illusions."

There was a slapping sound, as if leather was smacked against skin, and then, a sudden rush of wind filled the tunnel, piercing the three to their very bones with the howling current. Just as abruptly as the wind came the radiantly blinding azure light, illuminating the tunnel for a moment before disappearing as unexpectedly as it had come. The burst of light was so sudden, so bright, that Aubrey and Reilly found their vision temporarily, but utterly, shot.

A groaning _creeeeeeak_ brought the two back to their senses, and when their vision had finally arisen from the dead, they could make out Jack's shadowed outline over the threshold of a wooden door. The light illuminating this vision came from behind the open door, leading into what appeared to be a white hallway lighted by electricity. Warrant Officer Aubrey cursed under his breath, wondering where this hidden doorway had come from, when his charge answered the question for him.

"An entrance created by alchemy?!" Reilly gasped. "Now _that_ is an awesome idea, mate! No wonder your little lair's been hidden all this time."

"Yeah," Jack mumbled, "And now the secret's been breached, no thanks to you lot."  
Aubrey glanced to Jack, rolling his eyes, but then did a double take at the figure slouching just inside the doorway.

The first thing he noticed was Jack's skin; it was a blindingly white shade, far paler than all the Northerners he'd ever met before. The contrast against the black clothing and the shadows of the underground tunnel probably added to this illusion, but it almost seemed as if Jack's bare skin itself was a source of light. The next thing he noticed was Jack's figure. The baggy black pants and military boots seemed to fit Jack's personality just fine, but as the glance continued upwards, Aubrey froze with shock. What the trench coat, now slung across Jack's shoulder, had concealed before now took him aback – quite a difficult thing to do, considering all he'd been through today.

"Shimakta," he mumbled, "you're a… a…"

Yes, Jack Riley was indeed a woman.

She leaned on the white hallway's wall, smirking at the Warrant Officer's deer-in-headlights expression. (Reilly, on the other hand, found Aubrey's face humorous enough to burst out laughing about.) Dressed in a black sleeveless shirt with unruly dark hair tied back at her neck, Jack did not exactly look like one's typical expectations of a woman. 'Rugged' or 'tactical' might be a better description of her appearance, rather than 'feminine.' A tattoo of a transmutation circle, the apparent source of the alchemy and transmuted doorway, adorned her left shoulder.

"What?" Jack winked and smiled almost too cheerfully at Aubrey. "You think it strange to find a girl named Jack around here? Well, that's the least of the strangeness you've yet to see. Come on in, and shut that trap of yours before some spiders decide to crawl in it."

"Why?" Reilly moaned. "Why do you have to keep talking about the spiders?"

"Because it's fun to pick on you again after all these years." Jack pulled a gleeful grin.

And with that, the Suddenshot Alchemist and the confused, stunned, and somewhat traumatized Warrant Officer entered – or in one case, stumbled – into Jack's humble abode and the main base of operations of the near-legendary Hatashijou.

"So… that's a nice alchemized doorway you got," Reilly commented as Jack sealed the doorway through alchemy. "But where does this thing lead to?"

"Eh, you'll see." Jack shrugged, turning to face her friend with nonchalance.

"Not another few miles of twists and turns?"

"Nope. I said we're here, didn't I?"

"Well yes, but everything you say is so cryptic…"

"Is not!"

Aubrey rolled his eyes. _Here we go again…_

* * *

At the end of the white hallway buried beneath the forest of the Northern wilderness, the entrance of Hatashijou, lie two stairways. One slopes upward, back towards the surface, leading directly into the Riley home. The other stair circles downward and deeper into the earth. The electric lights that lit the hallway did not extend down into these lower stairs, leaving them with a dark and ominous aura, and though pressed by both Aubrey and Reilly about where they led, Jack left the second set of stairs unexplained. Instead, she led the two up the higher path, quickening her pace once she decided that her guests would not double back or attempt to leave her side. She pounded up the steps, the Suddenshot Alchemist and Warrant Officer Aubrey right behind her

"Imouto-san!" Jack abruptly called out. "Yo, we got guests!"

"Imouto-san?" Aubrey cocked his head. "Wait, you have a sister?"  
Jack merely shrugged, not bothering to turn and face the Warrant Officer. "Yeah, I do. So what?"

Reilly's eyes lit up. "Alice! Where is she? How's she doing?"

Jack laughed. "Good, I guess. But why don't you ask her yourself?"

Reilly's face glowed in excitement. "You mean she's here? With you? Is she part of Hatashijou?"

Aubrey's eyes narrowed. "Since when are there two Rileys, now?"

Suddenshot rolled her eyes. "There's _three_, actually. You forgot about me already?"

"Well, Caidrew," Aubrey coughed, smothering a suppressed laugh, "maybe it's because you're so _short_ that-"

"Don't you even go there!" Reilly quickly stomped her foot, and with a flash of light, a hammer materialized out of the ceiling, crashing down on Aubrey's head.

"Hey!" Jack yelled over her shoulder. "Reilly, no alchemy in the house! If you wanna fight, take it outside!"

Reilly scowled. "He _did_ ask for it, though." She begrudgingly picked up the hammer and threw it straight up. The transmutation circle on her leather wrist-bracer glowed briefly, and the hammer dematerialized on its way up, becoming one with the ceiling tile once again. "See, mate? No harm done."

Jack rolled her eyes. "Sure." She turned to finish climbing the steps.

Upon reaching the landing, she entered what had been long ago established by the Riley family as the central and most crucial part of Hatashijou headquarters: the kitchen. The room was small, but almost cozy in a sort. Cupboards and shelves lined almost every free space of the wood-paneled walls, with only enough room for a counter along one wall and a calendar hanging beneath an old-fashioned clock. An oven, painted shiny white on the outside, though scarred and browned on the inside, was shoved in a corner. The opposite corner housed a sink, complete with signs of the last meal, with assorted pans and dishes crammed in one side of it. Next to it was something that looked like an icebox, only a bit bigger and more disproportionate. A small square table with four chairs was set up in the middle of the room, the many nicks and scratches on all of them evidencing their old age. The only sign of fairly recent technology was a radio sitting on the counter, its antennae pointing up in odd angles and various directions.

"So?" Jack crossed the room, grabbing a pot that was sitting on the oven's top stove. "You guys want coffee or something? You're lucky; I'm the one who made this batch. You don't want to try Alice's brew unless you're a seasoned victim – I mean, veteran."

Aubrey and Reilly entered the room, taking in the setting with nearly opposite reactions. Reilly dashed over to the table and crashed into a chair, seeming right at home in her friends' house. She sighed in relief, happy to rest after the long, underground hike this morning. Aubrey, on the other hand, stood stiffly at the top of the staircase, silently taking in the humble kitchen with a blank expression. His eyes darted left and right, perhaps out of suspicion, or perhaps merely taking mental notes to report to some military official later. Jack glared at him. Some people just didn't know when they were taking their job _too_ seriously.

"You can sit down, too, Aubrey," Jack said calmly, staring at the Warrant Officer with cool eyes. "There's no bomb in the cupboards, or anything."

"Uh… right." Aubrey glanced up, taken off guard by Jack's sharp attention. He nodded stiffly, then stalked to the table and took a seat next to Reilly. His traveling companion shot him a suspicious glance.

"What was that all about?" She leaned towards Aubrey, whispering harshly.

"Nothing, Caidrew." Aubrey responded in a calm, but lowered, voice.  
"Just doing a _thorough_ investigation, that's all."

"We're not _investigating_ anyone," Reilly hissed, "We're just delivering a message! Stop acting like my _friend_ is going to randomly assault you!"

The Warrant Officer's eyes narrowed. "Up here in the North, you never know."

A sudden cough brought the two out of their conversation. They both glanced up to see Jack staring at them, eyebrows raised and coffee pot in hand.

"Um, so if you two are done plotting and scheming now, would either of you like coffee? Like I said, Alice didn't make it, so it's safe."

Once again, the two military representatives had opposite reactions. Aubrey merely grimaced ("No, thank you. I'm more of a tea person."), while Reilly bolted upright, knocking her chair out from under her. Her eyes lit up like fireworks. "Alice! That's right! Where is she, mate?"

"Oh yeah," Jack nodded, setting the pot down. "She said she was going to practice her _jutsu_, so she's probably still down in our training room." She grinned. "So, Reilly, want to see the house?"

"Um, of _course_!" Reilly answered as if it was obvious.

"Well, let's go then!" Jack slung an arm around Reilly's shoulder, dragging her out of the room.

Aubrey sighed, standing up. He politely pushed his chair in, then reached down and grabbed Reilly's fallen chair. "I guess I'd better come, too," he said, sliding the chair back under the table.

Jack flashed a sly grin over her shoulder. "What, you want to do some more _investigating_, Warrant Officer?"

Aubrey kept his face blank, shrugging with artificial nonchalance. "Perhaps."

"Well, keep your eyes and ears open, then. After all, you _never know_, right?"

Jack turned back to the hallway, showing Reilly the different rooms – "this one's the washroom, and here's the guest room, if you're wanting to spend the night; it's not much, but it's better than the floor…" – and leaving the Warrant Officer to his own thoughts. As Aubrey stared after the two reunited friends, his façade melted, and his eyes hardened into a pair of harsh, cold, gleaming orbs.

"Aye, Riley-san… You never know."

* * *

"And this, down here, is our basement, and likely as not where Alice is right now." Jack pointed to the stairway, on the opposite end of the house of the kitchen. The Riley house's tour group of two had so far seen the entire main floor, including a study room filled with shelves of books (most of them concerning either alchemy or different forms of _jutsu_, Aubrey noticed), a living room with some worn and torn couches, the compact little guest room, the small hallway closet tucked in the corner, the tiny washroom, and the kitchen. At the end of the hallway was another two sets of stairs, but unlike the first set beneath the kitchen, the lower one was straight and not steep at all, and its lighting was definitely intact. The upper one had a bit of a steep incline, and veered off to the left after a short while.

"How do you know that?" Aubrey asked, folding his arms across his chest. Jack threw him a surprised glance. During most of the miniature tour, he'd been silent, merely glancing this way and that as if he expected something to jump out at him at any moment.

Jack shrugged, then turned to stalk down the stairs. "Just listen. I have pretty good ears, so I can hear it right now as if it were right next to me… but soon, the two of you should be able to make out the distinct sound of Alice's music, turned up several tens of decibels too loud."

Aubrey and Reilly paused, glancing at each other. Neither of them heard anything, except for Jack's footfalls down the stairs. Reilly silently shrugged, then followed her friend.

"So, what's upstairs, then?" Aubrey asked, a suspicious tone to his voice.

"Not anything dangerous like I can tell _you're _expecting, Warrant Officer. The upstairs just goes to my bedroom, and Alice's too," Jack explained, not bothering to face him as she spoke. She jogged down the stairs, Reilly right on her heels. Aubrey, however, still stood at the landing, looking up towards the upper floor.

Reilly turned to give the Warrant Officer a confused stare. "Um… Aubrey?"

Jack rolled her eyes, then glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, lovely. First the kitchen. But now you have issues with _bedrooms_?"

"I didn't say that, Riley-san," Aubrey said defensively. He shook his head, then tracked down the stairs after the girls. "I was just thinking, that's all."

"You say it like it's a new experience."

"Jack!" Reilly frowned at her friend disapprovingly.

"Eh, sorry."

As the trio approached the bottom of the steps, they could hear that Jack spoke truth – quietly, as if in the distance, they could hear the distinct sound of pounding drums. It sounded, to Aubrey's ears at least, as if a skilled percussionist were some kind of violent rampage.

"What sort of music is that?" Reilly asked, flashing Jack a confused look. Her friend merely shrugged in response, as if to say, _to each their own_.

_Huh. I don't remember ever hearing __**that**__ kind of music before,_ Reilly pondered, pulling back her memories of the "old days" of Alchemy Fairs at Central, _but then again… maybe Alice has changed since I last saw her. After all, it __**has**__ been a long time, and one's musical tastes is the least of things that can change in less than that amount of time…_

She was brought back to the present as they reached the basement's landing. "All right, guys," Jack announced, "you're now officially at the end of the tour."

Upon crossing the threshold, Reilly and Aubrey found themselves in a small room that seemed to be a cross between a library and a second living room. A soft rug with a black-and-white design covered most of the wooden floor, and a black leather couch was shoved in one corner, an open book laying crookedly on its armrest. Every inch of the basement's walls were covered in bookshelves of all shapes and sizes, featuring newspapers, history texts, some literature from Amestris's early days as a country, and a few yellowish maps tucked here and there or wherever they could possibly be fit into the already overflowing shelves. There was also a closed door on each of the three walls facing the stairway.

Aubrey's eyes darted around the room, taking in every detail down to the last leaf of paper sticking out of the wooden shelves.

"I would take a stab in the dark and say you guys like to read," he commented.

Jack snorted. "With our profession, you _have_ to read a lot. But aye, I've always found great interest in Amestris's early literature. It tends to be a lot truer and more insightful than the propaganda of today's bookstores."

Reilly's face fell. "But I like modern books…"

Jack stalked across the room, either oblivious to or choosing to ignore the comment. "Over there," she pointed to the door on the left, "is where we keep our imperishable food and supplies and such."

Reilly and Aubrey followed her across the small room. "That's where we keep our newer maps and books," Jack said as she passed the door on the right. "And here…" Jack reached the door directly opposing the stairway; she grasped its handle, a slight smile on her face. "…is where imouto-san and I do much of our training. Well, when we have to stay indoors, anyway." With that, she twisted the handle, shoving the door wide open.

Blaring music hit Reilly and Aubrey as soon as the door opened, nearly deafening them for the few moments before their ears could acclimate to the noise. It was as if some giant lump of cotton had been suddenly pulled from their ears, revealing that they'd been standing right next to a thundering train or a military gun range during the rifle week of basic training. As they hesitated and waited for their ears to adjust to the piercingly loud music, other instruments could begin to be heard beneath the pounding drums. An odd mix of various string instruments wailed out a foreign melody, with the occasional cameo of piano adding a dramatic harmony. Above these instruments, a hoarse male voice was heard, crying out in some strange language that neither the Warrant Officer nor Reilly had ever heard before. Strangest of all was that Jack seemed to be completely unaffected by this assault of vaguely-musical nature. She marched confidently into the room, her two guests right on her heels.

When Reilly and the Warrant Officer entered the training room of the Riley sisters, the latter quite frankly didn't know what to make of the place. Reilly smiled to herself, half-wincing to the music, half-grinning at the sight before her. This was Riley territory, all right.

The training room was completely covered on two walls by glinting mirrors, making it seem twice as big as it really was, as well as reflecting everything in the room with crystal clear clarity. A third wall, the one to the left of the threshold, was laden with assorted weapons of all types – bos, bokkans and swords, sais and kamas, carving knives and throwing knives, nunchakus, pikes, the occasional mace, and several blades and staves that your standard Amestrian would have never known the proper name – let alone origin – of. Next to these weapons, sitting on the floor, was a portable wind-up phonograph, the source of the infernal "music." The fourth wall, to the right of the doorway, featured dumbbells and weights of various weights, as well as what appeared to be weighted metal bars, all neatly hanging from different racks on the wall.

In the corner of the room, where the weapons-wall and the left mirror-wall intersected, was Alice Riley.

She was clad in a black sleeveless shirt, much like her sister's, and oversized pants held on with a belt and rolled up to her knees. Her dark hair was tied back in something vaguely resembling a braid, though many locks had long ago fallen out of the pleats and now fell shaggily in front of her pale, albeit freckled, face. At the base of her rolled pants, near the knees, Reilly could make out what seemed to be the bottom of some kind of brace covering each of her friend's kneecaps.

Alice's eyes were closed tightly in concentration – and not for no apparent reason. Her arms and body were acting apparently independently of any conscious effort, and yet with brisk precision, she lifted, swung, parried, blocked, and effectively practiced some sort of advanced bo form with a weighted staff that seemed to be made of thick, hardened wood. Both Reilly and Aubrey noticed almost instantly that the girl's intense strikes with her staff were perfectly matched by the beats of the drums. It was then that they realized why her music was tuned so loud; she was totally and completely absorbed by the music.

And then, the music suddenly disappeared.

Jack stood by the phonograph, nonchalantly removing the LP record as if cutting off her sister's training music was something she did everyday.

Which, when Reilly thought about it, she probably did.

"_Ara!_" Alice's voice cried out, and her eyes snapped open. She glared at Jack, pointing her staff at the phonograph. "Nii-san_,_ what are you-"

And then, she saw the two additional people, still lingering in the entrance of the room. Her eyes completely skipped over the Warrant Officer, landing on Reilly, and then growing so wide that Jack feared her sister's eyes would completely pop out of their sockets.

Reilly smiled at her friend. "Hey, Alice."

Alice just stared, her mouth hanging dumbly ajar. And then, she dropped the staff without a second thought, and in three quick steps, crossed the room and managed to pull a flying tackle-glomp on her long-lost and newly-recovered friend.

"_**REIIILLLYY**!!"_ Alice cried, smothering her friend in a hug to champion that of a sumo wrestler. "Oh, dear sweet Lord, it's really you, isn't it? Why didn't you tell me you were coming? Why didn't you write – or call – or something? I mean, it's just that, oh WOW, how've you been? Are you staying long? Please, please, _please_ say you are!"

Reilly coughed. "Alice. You're crushing me, mate."

"Oh, right, sorry." Alice dropped her friend on the ground, blushing profusely. "So, what brings you here, then?"

"Well, actually, I'm on business, but…"

And thus, the rambles and smiles and hugs continued.

Jack grinned at Alice and Reilly's joyful reunion – which eventually led to a wince when she saw Alice tackle Reilly in a second spine-crushing squeeze. After a moment, she sighed, and then turned to face Aubrey. "Okay, Warrant Officer. Time for you to fess up."

Aubrey arched a brow. "Have I done something wrong?"

Jack laughed bitterly. "Not exactly, no, but you've been doing nothing but 'investigating' and 'thinking' all day, and I don't buy that crap at face value. What's _really_ eating you?"

Aubrey glanced down at Jack, surprise written across his face. "I don't know what you mean, Riley-san."

"Oh, come on. I used to be in the military, and I never met one officer that's as seemingly paranoid at you. So, cut the 'investigation' crap and tell me what's really got you scared. Heck, just because I'm Hatashijou – or half of it, actually – doesn't mean I'm going to kill you or anything."

Aubrey's face softened, and he shook his head. "No, no… that's not it. It's just that, well, I had quite different expectations of Hatashijou when I first got the mission."

"Do explain."

"Everything is too _normal_ here. Well, except for that first lower level in the white hallway. I received this mission, understanding that Hatashijou is one of the highest-rated private crime-fighting organizations in the nation, and when I finally get here… this is _it?_ No hidden dungeons, no microphones or security, no secret garages with the latest in automobile technology? Yeah, right. It's enough to make one suspicious."

Jack cocked her head. "Are you getting at what I think you are?"

"Where's your _real_ hideout? Is it that forbidden basement?"

"Um, no. The 'forbidden basement,' as you call it, is really just for storage and stuff like that. You're looking at Hatashijou's main base of operations right now."

"But this is…"

"It's our _home_, Aubrey. What, were you expecting to find superheroes? Me and imouto-san, we're just _people_."

The Warrant Officer pulled a wry grin. "Actually, I was expecting something more along the lines of a military command center. This is more like a… a college dorm, or something."

Jack laughed. "Funny you should say that. To some extent, this _is_ a college dorm. And the world is our classroom."

Aubrey pulled a slight smile. "Funny you should say _that_. I once knew someone who said that exact thing. Well, the last part of it, anyway."

"Hmm… let me guess. Was his name Grumman, by any chance?"

"One and the same."

Now it was Jack's turn to smile. "Wise guy, that'un."

Aubrey nodded. "So he is."

Both were silent for a moment, and then Jack shrugged. "So then, I'm not evil, you're not evil. Good to know."

Aubrey pulled a grin and held out his hand. "Friends?"

"Ah, why not." Jack shook his hand, then nodded. "All right then. Let's go shag those two young ones, shall we? After all, I do believe we have a letter to open."

* * *

A short while later, back upstairs in the kitchen, the infamous letter was sitting on the table, ready and waiting to be opened. Jack had put on a kettle of steaming water for Aubrey's tea, and Alice had poured herself a cup of the "weak and watered down" coffee that was ready available on the stove. Aubrey had excused himself shortly beforehand, suddenly needing to use the washroom, and Reilly found that such a moment was the perfect opportunity to deliver the letter and all of its strictly-classified contents.

"Here you go," Reilly picked the letter off the table and handed it to Jack. "You should be proud, mate. This letter has traveled thousands of miles across the entire northern face of Amestris, and now, you get to be the first to read its message."

"Eh," Jack mumbled, grabbing the envelope and tearing it open in one quick motion. "We'll see how proud I am once I read it." She sat down at the table and poured herself a cup of coffee, then reached into the envelope and pulled out a single page of some thick, cream-colored parchment. On the back of the page was the State of Amestris's official seal, the white dragon on a field of green. Jack's eyes narrowed, her face tightening in concentration as she set about reading the document's elegant and tidy script. Alice and Reilly waited patiently, their faces drawn in excitement, or in the former's case, anxiety.

"This letter…" Jack finally paused her reading to take a sip of her coffee. "It's addressed to me, but it's written to both me and you, imouto-san." She cocked a brow. "And it's not just packed in some fancy envelope to draw our attention. This message is from the Big Chief himself."

Alice's eyes narrowed. She glanced up from her steaming mug with a glare. "You mean President Bradley?"

"That's the one."

"What does _he_ want?" Reilly couldn't miss the bitterness in her old friend's voice.

Jack held up a finger. "Hang on a second." Her dark eyes scanned the page, taking a few extra moments to reread a few sections along the way. Then, when she got to the last line of the letter, her jaw clenched and face hardened into an unreadable expression.

"_Well?_" Alice's voice sounded anxious now.

Jack said nothing, but rather reached down into the envelope and pulled out two sealed packages. One had "Shadow" printed on the front in some flourished script, and the other read "Jinx." Jack tossed the second package to her sister.

"They want to hire us, Alice. The military is calling on Hatashijou, and for payment, they're going to reinstate us."

Alice's stomach twisted in a knot. "Reinstate us?" The question flew from her mouth, though she already knew the answer.

Jack ripped open her envelope and pulled out a small, gleaming silver watch. "Yeah. As State Alchemists."

Reilly's eyebrows shot skyward. "_Wow!_" She set her glass down and broke out into a wide grin. "Hey, congratulations, mates! Now _that_ needs a good celebration. So, what'll it be? Dinner in Central, my treat? Or I could take you guys–"

"He wants to _what?!_ " Alice stumbled backwards as if punched in the gut, completely oblivious to her friend's enthusiasm. "But – why?"

Reilly's brow wrinkled. "Um… I think it's meant as a compliment, Alice." She earned a distinct glare for this comment, and fell into a confused silence.

Jack dropped the letter on the table and turned away. "Eh, tea's boiling. Just read it for yourself, imouto-san," she said flatly.

Alice looked to her sister, then back at the letter fallen crookedly on the aged wood. _Just one little sheet of paper… one little, frail sheet of paper. Who would've known it could bring back so much? And yet… _She grimaced, finishing the thought out loud. "Eh, true enough, the pen is mightier, I suppose."

Reilly glanced up. "What?"

"Never mind." Alice reached down and grabbed the letter, reading through the typed manuscript with deliberation.

* * *

_Jack and Alice, Riley sisters, elsewherewise known as Hatashijou, formerly known as the Jinx Alchemist and the Shadow Alchemist – _

_You have hereby been summoned by His Royal and Glorious Majesty, President Fuhrer King Bradley, for the purpose of utilizing your special abilities for the benefit of your country. You are being called upon to give heed to your present leader, the humble and magnificent President Fuhrer King Bradley. He has need of your humble services in the unfortunate circumstances he currently foresees as inevitable given the present events._

_Upon acceptance of this charge, you are to report directly to Central Headquarters, where you will receive your mission. As payment and as an asset for your assignment, we generously bestow upon thee once again the titles of Kage no Renkinjutsushi and Zusokuso no Renkinjutsushi, without any stain or blemish of prior actions on your records. Upon completion of the mission, you will be reimbursed for any significant financial sacrifices that were made for the sake of your own grand country, and shall keep the title of Kokka Renkinjutsushi, so long as your dedication and allegiance to the Great and Mighty State of Amestris is carefully maintained. We believe this to be a proper and fitting payment, and thus bequeath with this script your military insignias, which will be necessary for the journey ahead, should you choose to accept it. On the contrary, should you unfortunately and foolishly choose not accept, we trust our representatives to handle the situation and military property with all due respect and necessary force._

_The Grand and Beautiful State of Amestris has been a haven of freedom and justice for many years, but is now in great peril. It is up to you, Hatashijou, to come to the aid in response to the distress call of your nation. We await your swift, expeditious, and expedient arrival to your nation's capitol._

_We appreciate your choosing to serve your country and people._

_- King Bradley, President and Fuhrer of the Magnificent and Glorious State of Amestris_

* * *

The seals and signatures of nearly a dozen other significant military officers followed. The last one, however, caught Alice's eye, being a name she both recognized and had hoped to never see again. She might've ignored this detail and moved on, had she not noticed a scrawled message added beneath the signature, perhaps as some kind of informal post script. She had to squint to make out the nearly illegible characters, but finally read:

_I'll have a pot of my strongest grinds waiting on the kettle for you. RM._

"TRYING TO BRIBE US WITH _COFFEE?!_ THE NERVE OF HIM!" Alice slammed her palm down on the table, the letter beneath it. "What the _hell_ has _he_ got to do with this, anyway? We're being summoned by the Fuhrer, and so we'd report to _him_, not to some egocentric, stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking—"

"_Scruffy?_" Jack poked her head around the corner, throwing a cocked eyebrow at her sister. "That's a new one. And not a very truthful one, I might add. Last time I checked, ol' Mustang-Man was pretty well-shaven."

"You read this? You read this stupid little post script and didn't even bother to _tell me?_"

Jack laughed. "I wanted to see your reaction. Looks like it was worth it."

"_You- _you little…"

Reilly picked up the letter, calmly reading the message in its entirety.

"Hey, if you don't want his coffee, I'll gladly take it!"

"Oh, so you're saying that we're going back there? _There?_ Into the pits of hell?"

"No, we'll talk about it, of course – it's just that, hey, the guy's trying to be nice –"

"And how would you know that? Don't you see B-R-I-B-E written all over this? They're trying to sell us out, make us give up our morals for a little bit of caffeinated buzz and a lot of cold, hard cash!"

"_Or_, they could have a legitimate mission for us, one that needs the kind of abilities that really only we have, and they're trying to offer us the best payment they can give."

"_OR! _They could have some evil, devious scheme up their rear end that they'll pull out at the last second to screw us over just like last time! It's the military, what else would you expect from them?"

"People change, Alice."

"Not _that _much!"

"Let's just talk about it, all right? I mean, Reilly traveled a long way to bring us this message, and so we should listen to her, because she'll probably have something intuitive or enlightening to say about it, right?"

Alice and Jack looked to their friend expectantly.

"…_Right?_"

Reilly glanced back at the sisters, then held up the letter, pointing at the post script. "So how do you guys know Colonel Mustang, anyway?"

Alice stared at her blankly for a moment, then slammed her head against the wall in a crude, though effective, variant form of a _headdesk_. Jack sighed and pulled her sister away from the wall, lest Alice suffer from a self-imposed concussion.

"He was our boss," Jack explained, "back in the old days. Back when we were a couple of young and green State Alchemists, and he was _Major_ Mustang of Central Command."

"Huh. Well," Reilly glanced back to the letter, "if you ask me, your ex-boss is a lot nicer than most I've seen. Offering you coffee and all, to celebrate your return."

"Mustang? _Nice?_" Alice laughed mirthlessly. "Now _that_ is a good one, mate. The guy _used_ us." She turned away, crossing her arms over her chest. "Though he does learn from the best, I suppose. The entire freakin' military used us, then dumped us out to dry when we were of no further use."

Jack put a hand on her shoulder. "That's not entirely true, Alice."

Alice shoved the hand off, then turned her head to pull a bitter smile at Reilly. "You've heard the expression _be thou for the people_, right, mate? Well, I've got to tell you, it's the biggest load of chikuso ever coined by mankind."

Abruptly, Alice reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple of coins. Without batting an eye, she yanked her sister over and slapped the money into her hand. "There ya go. 20 cenz."

Jack glared, but pocketed the money nonetheless. "Imouto-san. You need to stop."

"I needed to get that out, and _she _needed to hear it."

Reilly pulled a skeptical expression. "Um, now what was that little exchange there? You bribe your sister to let you curse or something?"

Jack shook her head. "Nope, I just charge her for it. Lord knows that imouto-san's big mouth lands us in trouble often enough, so _someone_ has to watch it, lest we all fall into doom and destruction."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Oh, I am _not_ that bad." She looked pointedly at Reilly. "And besides, what I said is true, and ol' Jack-o-Lantern here knows it, too."

Just then, Warrant Officer Aubrey poked his head into the room. "What's true, now?"

"_Eep!_" Alice jumped a good five inches at the sudden intrusion right behind her. Reilly laughed, but Jack kept a deadpan expression, informing the Officer that, "Oh, it's nothing. We're just debating whether or not Alice's sad attempt at brewing coffee is absolutely disgusting and should be taken out and used for engine fuel instead of drinking."

Alice glared at her sister. "Not. Funny."

"Oh yes, it is indeed, because in this case, the humor is directly related to the statement's truth."

"Heck no! I'd say they're more _inversely _related."

"So you're saying it's true, then?"

"What? No! Wait, that's not it, I just was saying that—"

Reilly rolled her eyes at the sisters. _And, here we go **again**…_

Jack calmly smiled at the Warrant Officer, one hand covering Alice's mouth from further ranting, the other hand offering a gently steaming china cup. "Tea?"

* * *

Late that night, after a none too shabby dinner of noodles and sauce cooked up by the sisters (their own "secret recipe," in the words of Jack), followed by many exchanged stories and laughs of memories and times past, and ended with a round of card games won by mostly Jack and the Warrant Officer, found the two guests fast asleep in separate rooms of the Riley abode, with Jack and Alice left alone, sitting on their old, fraying couch decorated with a quasi-Victorian print. The infamous letter sat on a small coffee table nearby, a silver watch resting on top of it. It was Alice's; Jack had discreetly tucked hers in a pocket just before dinner. The two sisters now sat, watching the once-cheery flames of their smoldering fireplace die out in silence, neither one willing to voice that one crucial question just yet.

As the last spark flickered away, Alice sighed and rested her head on Jack's shoulder. "So, what are we going to do, nii-san?"

"I don't know." Jack sighed and plopped her head on top of her sister's. "I don't know, imouto-san."

Alice grimaced. "They're playing us again, aren't they? They've sent a letter of challenge, thrown a gauntlet… and I guess it would go against our very _name_ if we didn't answer."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Jack sighed. "But stop worrying about it, all right, imouto-san? We'll decide tomorrow. A decent night's sleep and more thought will do us all good."

"Hmm. Maybe." Alice yawned, then shifted to sling an arm over Jack's shoulder. "It was good to see Reilly again, regardless."

Jack smiled. "Aye, that it was indeed."

"We should take a break, sometime. Just spend some more time with her, you know, maybe show her the Lake or take her down to North City for the tourist traps there. But," Alice grimaced, "it might be hard to do that with Aubrey and all. He doesn't seem like the type to just take a day off for the heck of it."

"No, he's doesn't," Jack agreed, "but you leave that to me. I've got a few plots cookin' in the ol' noggin up here."

"Huh." Alice closed her eyes. "Good to hear you still have something left up there."

"Thanks. Thanks a lot."

"Anytime, nii-san."

Jack stood up, knocking Alice's arm off with a sigh. "I'll be heading off to the sack, then. See you in the morning."

"Yup, see ya."

Alice watched Jack stumble off to her room with exhausted eyes, heavy with unspoken words, and leaned back against the cushion of the fraying couch. She pulled her knees up to her stomach, hugging them close, and closed her eyes tightly against the torrent of memories pounding away at her skull.

"You've always been the lucky one, nii-san. If only I _could_ sleep, on a night like this."

**.chapter one/END.**

* * *

**Author's Rambles:**

--Finally, chapter one is done!! Huzzah!  
Lord knows it took me long enough to write this…. I think it's one of the longest chapters I've ever written, especially at the start of a story. But anyway… this chapter provides a lot of introduction for the main plot, though still not much background info about the main charries. (That will come more in chapter two, which I've already started.) I'm still working a bunch of symbolism and imagery into the story, as practice for original writing later… though if you guys don't pick up on it, it's not the end of the world. Oh yeah, and if this chapter/story is uberly-confusing you... don't worry. Chapter 2 will explain what Hatashijou exactly is, why Alice & Jack left the military, why Alice calls her sister "nii-san" rather than "nee-san"... among other things. So stay tuned!

--Hatashijou is based off the Fullmetal Alchemist _manga_. It's very, very important that you read that if you want a full understanding of the characters and plotlines at work here. (In this specific chapter, it's not too necessary… but starting in chapter two, you might be a bit confused if you've only watched the anime.)

--Also, I use a tidbit of Japanese in my writing, not much, but enough to keep the feel that I get when I'm watching my subs of FMA. And, for the sake of keeping the rating of this story lower, major curses will be written in my sad attempts at Japanese. It's like pulling the _Firefly_ trick; keep your curses in another language, and 90 of your readers will be safe. ;) And, keep in mind, I'm still very, very new at Japanese. I try, I'm learning, but I'm not perfect. So if anyone knows more than I do, and finds an error, _please correct me!_ I can't stress this enough! It's the only way I learn, really, by trial and error. So, if you can correct my error, please do so!

--A lot of inspiration for this story came from a steady supply of my own "Northern-style" coffee, as well as the work of the amazing musical artists Hans Zimmer, Steve Jablonsky, Linkin Park, Within Temptation, Nightwish, TFK, Project 86, Oshima Michiru, Vic Mignogna, DragonForce, Bon Jovi, Demon Hunter, Pillar, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Nightmare, 3 Doors Down, Three Days Grace, The Fray, Simple Plan, Hayao Matsuo, and others. Oh yeah, and random trivia – the music that Alice is listening to when we first meet her is E Nomine. Specifically, their song "Wolfen (Das Tier in Mir)".

Thank you all for your beautiful & kick-derriere music!

--Songs that inspired this chapter--  
_.Bratja_ -- BEPA (Fullmetal Alchemist soundtrack)  
_.Somewhere I Belong_ -- Linkin Park  
_.Me Against the World_ -- Simple Plan  
_.The Alchemic World_ -- Oshima Michiru (Fullmetal Alchemist soundtrack)  
_.Aishou_ -- Oshima Michiru (Fullmetal Alchemist soundtrack)  
_.Starting Up_ -- Julia Mazda (You're Under Arrest! soundtrack)  
_.Rewrite_ Asian -- Kungfu Generation (Fullmetal Alchemist soundtrack)  
_.Tobira no Mukou e_ -- Yellow Generation (Fullmetal Alchemist soundtrack)  
._Wolfen (Das Tier in Mir)_ -- E Nomine  
._What Have You Done_ -- Within Temptation  
_.Never Too Late_ -- 3 Days Grace  
._Stand My Ground_ -- Within Temptation  
_.Breaking the Habit_ -- Linkin Park  
._Numb_ -- Linkin Park

--Credits:  
Fullmetal Alchemist, the State of Amestris, and all of the cannon charries belong to the amazing Arakawa-san.  
All OCs - currently Jack, Alice, Reilly, & Aubrey - belong to me, BJ, & Capt.

--Hatashijou Staff:  
Underpaid, Over-Caffeinated Author: Kyra (aka Marinera K)  
Illustrator, Brainstormer, & Staff Wizard: Capt T  
Editor, Proofreader, & Resident Psycho: BJ

Thanks for readin', mates! Sending you coffee and hugs! 3


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